MUFG forms JV with Morgan Stanley in Japan

The Japan franchise of the elite US investment bank looks set to be absorbed by the country's largest bank.

Whichever way you spin it, it appears that Japan's premier commercial bank has taken its pound of flesh in return for the historic $9 billion capital injection into Morgan Stanley in November 2008 -- if, that is, the memorandum of understanding MOU signed on Thursday becomes reality.

The announcement of the planned merger between Morgan Stanley's operations in Japan and the securities unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group signals a coup for the Japanese bank, which over the past...